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Jose Mourinho divides opinion. He’s won European titles, multiple Premier Leagues, Primeira Ligas, Scudetto, and a La Liga in an honours list that boasts 19 major trophies in as many years in management.
But his self-confidence, temperament, and philosophy have brought detractors. It’s nearly a decade since he won the Champions League and five years since he won the league, bringing questions over whether the 57-year-old is now a manager past his prime.
He is one of only five managers to have won the European Cup with two different teams, and could yet do something unprecedented and win it with a third.
Despite coaching last season’s Champions League runners-up, a victory with Tottenham would be on par with the level of shock that wins with Porto and Inter.
Conor Pope, Chris Flanagan and Seb Stafford-Bloor look at Mourinho's history in the competition, and his task at Spurs.
Buy the magazine: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/mag-mourinho-vs-world-plus-mane-mendy-kovacic-iniesta-rio-baptista-efl-old-boys-and-more
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This is a special episode, celebrating two British footballing greats. Neither ever kicked a ball, or managed a team. But together they soundtracked the sport for a grateful nation for over 50 years.
We sat down with commentary legends Barry Davies and John Motson to discuss a broadcasting rivalry older than most Premier League coaches.
Read the full interview here: fourfourtwo.com/features/john-motson-barry-davies-interview-podcast-commentary-rivalry-motd-world-cup-euro-96
Buy the Euro 96 special: myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/outdoor-and-leisure/fourfourtwo-magazine-back-issues/fourfourtwo-print-february-2020/
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Paul Gascoigne and Gareth Southgate are both integral to the story of Euro 96 in very different ways. They were at different parts of their career, were different kinds of players, and had deeply contrasting personalities. One scored the goal that encapsulated how England fans felt during the tournament, the other missed the penalty that sent the Three Lions out.
Conor Pope, Si Hawkins, Gary Parkinson and Chris Flanagan discuss Gazza and Gaz.
Buy the Euro 96 special: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/outdoor-and-leisure/fourfourtwo-magazine-back-issues/fourfourtwo-print-february-2020/
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Euro 96 took place in a different world. It was a time closer to the three-day week, the Vietnam War and the eradication of smallpox than the present day.
English football had welcomed the start of the Premier League only four years earlier, but had endured embarrassment at Euro 92 and absence from USA 94.
Despite that, the tournament captured the national imagination and came to sum up a moment in both our footballing and cultural history.
Conor Pope is joined by Gary Parkinson, James Andrew, and Chris Flanagan to discuss the whole tournament.
Buy the Euro 96 special: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/outdoor-and-leisure/fourfourtwo-magazine-back-issues/fourfourtwo-print-february-2020/
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It’s very simple. We’re here to discuss the 100 best players in the world.
We’ve decamped to the pub for this episode. The reasons we’ve done this are simple: It’s the end of the year, and we felt like it.
Joining Conor Pope to go through the #FFT100 are editor James Andrew and staff writer Chris Flanagan.
Read the FFT100 here: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/best-football-players-world-2019-100-footballers-soccer-list-full
Buy the end of year mag: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/outdoor-and-leisure/fourfourtwo-magazine-back-issues/fourfourtwo-january-2020/
Subscribe to FourFourTwo magazine: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/fftpodcast19/
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Let’s talk about facts, baby.
Rafa Benitez is the cover star on the latest issue of FourFourTwo magazine, talking about Mike Ashley, Mourinho, and the Miracle of Istanbul.
He’s currently managing Dalian Yafing out in China, although still has a family home in Merseyside, where we caught up with him for this interview.
Will he end up back in the Premier League soon? I’m Conor Pope, and I discuss the kind of clubs he might end up at with our very own Chris Flanagan.
We also look at Rafa’s greatest achievement – that Champions League victory – with This Is Anfield’s Matt Ladson.
Subscribe to FourFourTwo magazine: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/fftpodcast19/
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On August 7th, 2019, the leader of Lazio’s ultras, the Irriducibili, was shot dead. He was assassinated in broad daylight, in a park in Rome.
A few weeks later, Lazio played their fierce rivals Roma. Andy Mitten decided to attend the match – with the Lazio ultras.
He’s written up the experience in the current issue of FourFourTwo – and here, he takes us behind the story.
Buy the magazine :https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/outdoor-and-leisure/fourfourtwo-magazine-back-issues/fourfourtwo-autumn-2019/
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In 1969, a series of World Cup qualifiers between Honduras and El Salvador played part in triggering a conflict that claimed thousands of lives.
This episode looks at how the war began, and the role the beutiful game played in ugly combat.
This story first appeared in FourFourTwo magazine's Autumn 2019 issue, which you can buy here: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/outdoor-and-leisure/fourfourtwo-magazine-back-issues/fourfourtwo-autumn-2019/
You can also subscribe to the magazine here: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/fftpodcast19/
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It’s a pretty big rivalry – you might have heard of it. They call it El Clasico.
Right now, the two sides are facing a crisis, in their own way: neither side won the Champions League last season for the first time in six years.
So how do they get back on top in Europe? Conor Pope talks to Andy Murray, who has written a blueprint for success for Barca and Real in the new issue of FourFourTwo.
There is no Clasico match this weekend, even though there should be. Colin Millar, author of the Frying Pan of Spain – a history of the Seville derby – and editor of Football Espana, explains why that is – and what other political shenanigans are going on in the Spanish league.
Read Andy Murray on Neymar: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/neymar-los-toiss-barcelona-real-madrid-psg-controlling-circle-friends
Order the magazine: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/outdoor-and-leisure/fourfourtwo-magazine-back-issues/fourfourtwo-autumn-2019/
Subscribe to the magazine: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/fftpodcast19/
Buy The Frying Pan of Spain: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frying-Pan-Spain-Sevilla-Football/dp/1785315242/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3RBTSAGMDDSOB&keywords=the+frying+pan+of+spain&qid=1554469656&s=gateway&sprefix=the+frying+pan,aps,156&sr=8-5
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Adoration doesn’t come along easily. No one knows that better than Raheem Sterling. Vilified and criticised, there was a time when, despite being the most exciting young English talent in a generation, he was also one of the most unpopular footballers in the country.
Those days are behind him now. Not only has he progressed on the pitch to become one of the best players in the world, he has spoken out on social issues, including press ethics and racism, to become one of the game’s most widely respected figures.
How did he change? Or did he change us? The man himself reveals all in the forthcoming issue of FourFourTwo.
Conor Pope speaks to Chris Flanagan and Hunter Godson about going to meet Sterling, and to Steven McInerney, the man behind the Man City YouTube channel Esteemed Kompany, about one of the greatest club sides this country has ever seen – and the role Raheem Sterling has had in shaping that.
Order the magazine: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/outdoor-and-leisure/fourfourtwo-magazine-back-issues/fourfourtwo-autumn-2019/
Subscribe to the magazine: https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/fftpodcast19/
Watch Esteemed Kompany: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMxNPuhwTVMFkVoRjlARtaQ
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Glenn Hoddle: player, player/manager, manager, pundit, pop star.
The former playmaker was one of the most talented footballers of his generation – but his style of play always felt unsuited to the English game of the 1980s and, while appreciated for his technical ability, he perhaps was not as lauded or as influential as he could have been.
As a manager, he took a continental approach to Swindon Town, leading them to promotion to the Premier League, and guided Chelsea to an FA Cup final with a cosmopolitan flair they had not previously been associated with. The tactical ideas he implemented as England boss in the late ‘90s can still be seen today – though later career stints at Southampton, Wolves and Spurs may stop us acknowledging it fully.
Is it time to reappraise Hoddle’s career? In the latest issue of FourFourTwo Patrick Barclay sits down with the man himself to provide a retrospective on the player they called the golfer.
Conor Pope, Patrick Barclay and Chris Flanagan reappraise Hoddle’s forgotten legacy on English football.
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Jurgen Klopp is a Champions League winner, a footballing philosopher, and now FIFA Manager of the Year 2019.
But how did he become one of the greatest managers in the world? And how did he turn Liverpool into one of the great footballing sides?
In the new issue of FourFourTwo we have an in-depth interview with Klopp by comedian John Bishop. The interview is an extract from a new book, A Game of Two Halves, where famous names from across the arts, media and politics interview their footballing heroes to raise money for the UN’s refugee programme.
Conor Pope speaks to Amy Raphael, who put the book together, and FFT colleague Ryan Herman about the interview, and to This Is Anfield's Matt Ladson about how Klopp put together his empire in Liverpool.
NOW TRY:
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We’ve revealed FourFourTwo’s ranking of the 101 best players in the Premier League right now. https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/best-players-premier-league-virgil-van-dijk-raheem-sterling-mo-salah-harry-kane
Don’t worry: Conor Pope, Chris Flanagan, Joe Brewin and Hunter Godson don’t have time to discuss every single name on the list. Instead, they pick out their favourites, what themes emerge among the league’s best – and, of course, the battle for top spot.
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They called him ‘Il Fenomeno’.
In August 1997, Ronaldo was 20 years old. He’d just broken the world transfer record for the second time in a year, leaving Barcelona for Serie A with Inter Milan, and was on his way to winning that year’s Ballon d’Or.
Over the next five years, he’d add a UEFA Cup and World Cup to his trophy collection, establishing himself as one of the greatest ever to play the game.
But was his time at Inter a success? A feature in the current FourFourTwo examines his time in Italy – and in this episode, Conor Pope, Matt Barker and Joe Brewin look deeper into the story, as well as revealing some things you might not have realised about this season’s Champions League.
Now buy the magazine and read Matt Barker’s full inside story of Ronaldo at Inter
THEN READ…
“I'd love to win the Champions League. I hope I can one day.” Ronaldo: one-on-one
Year Zero: The making of Ronaldo (Barcelona, 1996/97)
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In five years as manager, Mauricio Pochettino has taken Tottenham Hotspur from seventh in the Premier League to the final of the Champions League.
From a club that were once synonymous with mediocrity, they have become a staple of Europe’s elite competition.
Poch has become the longest serving manager at the club in over 30 years, and has managed to oversee this transformation without spending big – with finances instead being invested in a state-of-the-art new stadium.
So how has he done it? What drives him? And what happens when he leaves?
In this episode, we discuss all that – as well as Thomas Gravesen, and the weirdest football transfers of all time.
Conor Pope talks to Hunter Godson, author of the FourFourTwo’s latest cover feature on Spurs, and Nathan Clarke, freelance journalist and contributor to the Spurs podcast The Extra Inch.
NOW READ: What's wrong with Tottenham? Hunter Godson on why fans are so frustrated
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Two teams, six miles apart, 279 years of history between them: one saved, and one condemned.
In this episode, Conor Pope discusses Bury’s expulsion from the Football League with Bury fan Tom Pickup, Bolton Wanderers’ reprieve with FourFourTwo staff writer Chris Flanagan, and the wider context of this issue – as well as what other clubs could be at risk – with football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
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On Saturday, 26th April, 1986, Stroitel Pripyat prepared to take on FC Borodyanka in a cup semi-final in northern Ukraine; the first game in their new stadium.
The game did not go ahead.
The stadium would never be used.
Adapted from an article in the latest issue of FourFourTwo magazine, in this podcast Grant Fulton tells the story of the footballers who had the flee the fallout of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, those who bravely helped in the aftermath – and the football club that disappeared with a city.
Read Paul Brown’s full story on FC Stroitel Pripyat by buying the September issue of FourFourTwo now and getting it delivered straight to your door.
Written by Paul Brown
Script editor, producer and narrator - Grant Fulton
Sound design, editing and production - Pete Mauder of Phonotheque
Other voices were provided by Lyle Fulton, Ruslan Hay and Pete Mauder
Get more stories like this every month in FourFourTwo magazine. Subscribe now and get five issues for £5.
The executive producer is James Brown, and FourFourTwo podcasts are overseen by Steve Morgan and Conor Pope
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FFT editor in chief James Brown is joined by writer and Arsenal blogger Tim Stillman and Bolton’s number one media player Chris Flanagan.
They cover this week’s major talking points from the world of football including the England women’s semi-final against the USA, the continuing saga of VAR and Frank Lampard’s appointment as Chelsea manager.
They examine what Arsenal need to do to achieve success, James shares some of his pre-match superstitions and Kevin Philips gets to the bottom of the infamous ‘Poogate’ controversy.
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FFT editor in chief James Brown is joined by writer Hunter Godson and sports documentary maker and producer Tony Pastor.
James reveals how the release of the fixtures for the new season only reminded him how raw the wounds still are from the last one and Hunter deliberates on what’s next for Rafa Benitez.
Plus we speak to Tony about his career behind the camera and hear how his ground breaking documentary “Keane and Vieira – Best of Enemies” came into existence. He also reveals who are the best and worst pundits he’s worked with and how to fill time when rain stops play.
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FFT Editor In Chief James Brown is joined by features writer Chris Flanagan and one of the most respected football writers and authors in the country, Patrick Barclay.
The topics of conversation include the cartoon sportsmen of childhood, what’s next for Frank Lampard and the latest VAR controversies.
We speak to Paddy about his long and distinguished career as a football writer, the managers he’s written about and what it was like to watch Diego Maradona play at Napoli.
Plus, in a FFT podcast first, James manages to make the first reference to Leeds Utd in under five minutes.
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